Killing

Chapter 35: Killing

The long-awaited sunlight! Uh, there was no sunlight. The sky was dim, thick with dark clouds, and a sparse drizzle was still falling. This really wasn't good weather.

Hong Mo appeared before the research institute's main gate, holding Lingyin's hand. Inside and outside the perimeter stood circles upon circles of riot police. Their moods were as heavy as the gloomy sky overhead.

Heh~!

There were no signs of fighting at the scene. Clearly, that five-person superpowered squad had already left. What bad luck. He had been ten or so minutes late and happened to be blocked right at the entrance.

"Daddy, is this the sky?" Hong Lingyin looked at the cloud-covered heavens and asked a question that was both amusing and exasperating.

"Yes, this is the sky," Hong Mo answered seriously.

"It doesn't seem as pretty as Daddy said."

"The sky really isn't very pretty right now, but the day will always come when it clears up. I promise that when that happens, the sky will definitely be beautiful." Ignoring the police outside, Hong Mo earnestly explained it to Lingyin.

Hong Mo took Lingyin one step forward. A continuous series of clicks rang out as countless guns were cocked and aimed.

"Fire!" An order spread through the crowd, and relentless gunfire echoed over the research institute. There was no call to surrender, no hesitation—only full force fire.

Heh~~! After ten years, the Celestial Dynasty had become this decisive too, huh? Hong Mo sighed inwardly. He raised his right hand and spread his five fingers. His superpower field opened, and countless bullets slowed from high speed to a halt, suspended in midair. In mere moments, they formed a wall of bullets in front of Hong Mo.

What a pity. Bullets still hadn't changed much; they were still metal-tipped rounds.

"Damn it! Change ammunition! The target is an electromagnetic-type superpowered individual!" A voice shouted. Clearly, these riot police were battle-hardened veterans. The moment they saw something was wrong, they began changing ammunition before receiving orders from above.

What a shame. Too late!

A trace of red surfaced in Hong Mo's pupils as his superpower field expanded!

In an instant, a massive current swept through the superpower field like a tidal wave. The dense gunfire abruptly stopped, and the riot police toppled one after another like dominoes.

Air did not conduct electricity—this was common human knowledge. But that non-conductivity only referred to ordinary circumstances. Air had too much resistance, and ordinary voltage could not break through it. Wasn't lightning itself a phenomenon created by enormous electrical discharge? As long as the voltage was high enough, air could transmit electricity as well.

A superpowered individual's electricity possessed another advantage: the superpower field. Its exact function was not yet fully understood, but one confirmed effect was that it enhanced and controlled one's own abilities.

For example, electricity, heat, light... In Hong Mo's case, as long as he spread his superpower field throughout an area, it was as though countless conductors existed within that space. The more powerful the superpower field, the lower the resistance of those conductors, allowing the current to reach anywhere covered by the field with minimal loss.

In the past, Hong Mo could not have achieved this effect. At that time, his superpower field had not been this powerful. But now...

He had lost his power, then regained it through experiments. Driven by his desire to leave, Hong Mo had never given up training his superpowers. The Hong Mo of today was no longer comparable to the Hong Mo of ten years ago.

The current was not very strong. Although these riot police had been paralyzed by electricity, many of them had not died, especially those farther away where the current was weaker. It was not because Hong Mo lacked the power, but because he did not wish to kill them this way.

From now on, they would certainly face endless pursuit from the outside world. It was essential to keep some of his strength a mystery.

Hong Mo slowly walked down the steps. The exterior of this research institute had been constructed quite splendidly. No one could possibly tell from the outside how ugly it was within.

Electromagnetic Blade!

Hong Mo lightly sliced open one riot policeman's throat, then walked toward the next... and the next.

"You... you devil!" One riot policeman lay rigid all over, glaring at Hong Mo as he slowly cursed him. Hong Mo stopped and stared coldly at the middle-aged officer. He had a square face and a certain air of authority, but even more honesty and simplicity.

A devil? Sorry, you've never seen a real devil. Hong Mo closed his eyes, recalling the countless bloody scenes inside the research institute.

"Daddy!" Lingyin gripped Hong Mo's large hand tightly.

Logically, Hong Mo should not have allowed a child like Lingyin to witness such a scene. But he believed it was a necessary step. The world had changed; it was no longer the peaceful society it once was. People like him and Lingyin, if they wanted to survive in this world, had to grow accustomed to bloodshed, even if that bloodshed would slowly seep into their bones.

"The little bats are hungry," Lingyin said softly. Then countless dark-red bats flew from the surface of her body, like a horde of dancing demons.

"Can they, Daddy?" Lingyin asked.

Only after releasing all the little bats did she ask whether they could? Hong Mo smiled, though that smile carried immeasurable desolation.

"They can."

Screams—countless screams. Though these little bats did not look remarkable, they were still a new type of mutated organism cultivated using Hong Mo's genes. The riot police's seemingly sturdy uniforms were easily pierced through, and the little bats' sharp teeth sank into the officers' fragile skin.

Screams, groans...

Hong Mo felt somewhat dazed. Was this what the world would become? He suddenly remembered his youth. Back then, who could have imagined such a scene? Hong Mo raised his hands. Since when had they become stained with blood as well?

Several thousand little bats, having drunk their fill of blood, returned to Lingyin's Soul Space.

"Daddy!"

"Let's go. We're leaving this place." Hong Mo led Lingyin through the corpses, dark red blood staining the once-polished ground.

When they passed a police car, Hong Mo stopped and knocked on the window. The young policeman inside, who had been trembling all over, jolted in fright and stared at Hong Mo outside the window in terror.

He hadn't expected there to be a lucky survivor here.

"Don't... don't kill me!" The lucky survivor was terrified beyond measure, his pupils contracted as tears and mucus streamed down his face while he begged.

"Can you drive?" Hong Mo suddenly asked.

"Yes, I'm the driver. I didn't go out just now." So that was why he had escaped disaster.

Hong Mo led Lingyin into the police car. "Leave this place. Take us downtown."

"O-okay. Can you not kill me?" the young policeman replied tremblingly.

"If you behave well."

"What's your name?" Hong Mo suddenly asked. By then, the police car had left the research institute and reached an asphalt road.

"My name is Zhu Youqing, Zhu Youqing." Faced with Hong Mo's question, the young police officer did not dare hesitate in the slightest.

"Oh." Hong Mo replied blandly, then said nothing more. That only made the young officer feel even more uneasy and anxious.

"Dad, what is this?"

"What is what?"

"This thing." Little Lingyin pointed in a circle.

"Oh, this is a police car, a type of vehicle. Ordinary people rarely get the chance to ride in one." Hong Mo patiently explained it to little Lingyin.

Zhu Youqing drove carefully, but most of his attention remained on Hong Mo. After all, his life was in Hong Mo's hands. As they drew closer to the city center and the crowds grew thicker, Zhu Youqing relaxed slightly. This guy probably would not kill him in a busy district, right? With so many witnesses, getting away would be difficult.

As they passed through a commercial street, a black shadow flew over the police car. Then came the screech of brakes and the screams of the crowd.

"What happened?" Hong Mo had not seen clearly what had happened just then.

"Black Feather Condor! A huge Black Feather Condor! Fuck!" Zhu Youqing pointed toward the sky ahead.

Following the direction of Zhu Youqing's finger, Hong Mo saw an enormous bird with a wingspan of more than ten meters flying through the air, a small girl clutched in its talons.

"Someone save my daughter! Please, someone save my daughter!" A young woman knelt in the middle of the sidewalk, pleading desperately. Yet the pedestrians nearby only looked frightened and relieved that it had not been them. No one stepped forward.

"Ma'am, please accept your loss. This Black Feather Condor has been around for a week. Every day, it catches people nearby to eat. Ordinary people like us can't fight it at all. We can only wait for the authorities to get rid of it." A middle-aged woman softly comforted the mother who had lost her daughter.

"What's going on?" Hong Mo asked Zhu Youqing in the front seat.

"The Black Feather Condor. A week ago, an ability user killed a small Black Feather Condor. Then this large one started hovering around here, catching more than a dozen people every day. It seems to be taking revenge," Zhu Youqing explained.

"And then? You just leave it alone?"

"Leave it alone? How are we supposed to deal with it? Could an ordinary person like me fight it? A mature Black Feather Condor's feathers are practically as tough as steel, and it flies fast—its top speed is nearly the speed of sound. And since it's a bird, it's incredibly agile. Of all the mutated creatures that have appeared, birds are the hardest to deal with." Zhu Youqing looked furious and frustrated.

"You may not have the ability to kill it, but what about the government?"

Asked that by Hong Mo, Zhu Youqing calmed down. "I don't know. I'm just a small-time police officer. I don't know why they still haven't sent anyone."

"Hmph!"

Hong Mo did not ask any more questions. He watched as the Black Feather Condor landed on the roof of a building with the little girl in its claws. Then it raked with its talons, gripped one small arm in its sharp beak, and began to feed.

"Dad!" Hong Lingyin grabbed Hong Mo's arm.